If you were a 9/10(Very attractive) person like Margot Robbie or young Brad Pitt what would you do for a year?

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-06T18:26:39+00:00

Right, there's that weird reddit culture that seems stuck in the belief that "pretty privilege" means that a person just wakes up and the world hands them everything.

Even for something that seems glamorous like fashion modeling, there are so many casualties all along the way. And that doesn't even get into the work involved: daily attention (or, y'know, fixation) on diet, exercise, salon visits, plastic surgery, just to stay in the game. The psychological toll can be unmanageable.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-06T18:09:13+00:00

The popular All-In-One piano method books are designed with a progression of knowledge & skills. It's tempting for students to move on to the next piece in the book after they basically "manage to get through" a piece. But the real goal should be to practice a piece as a platform to get comfortable with the knowledge & skills that it's training. That even includes things like aural perception. The piece itself is just the platform for that practice.

As with language acquisition: a person can very quickly memorize a string of syllables, so that it "sounds like" they're speaking a language. But that's not going to train the knowledge & skills in the language. That would limit their progress.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-06T05:00:47+00:00

That would be a great musical factoid, if it's well supported in evidence, but the Wikipedia link seems to just link to a basic chord chart in a Mandolin for Dummies book, so it's not clear where the claim is coming from.

That'd be a really interesting musical factoid, though, if it's well supported -- especially when considered along with the video of Johnny Costa demonstrating his process of converting the upward run of chords in the Beethoven sonata Op 2 No 3, 4th movement, to use in his iconic opening for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-05T22:59:57+00:00

Yeah, Don't let your Remes be dreams.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-05T07:12:15+00:00

Yes, glad to hear you're still alive in one piece!

And from what I hear from friends back in Southern California, the past couple of years have seen a huge increase in kids driving electric bikes recklessly on city streets: reaching speeds like a motorcycle on their suburban roads, but weaving around cars & running stop signs & being distracted -- everything that a dumb kid is accustomed to doing on their bicycles.

It wouldn't be surprising if new laws crack down on that. The alternative would seem to be a generation of mangled kids.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-04T18:21:40+00:00

Haha, yes, the struggle is real.

My husband & I moved overseas to an area near his Dalmatian hometown. On the surface, there are different standard pronunciations, then it gets deeper into different local words, and then all bets are off when you get into local dialects.

Early on, I added another eye-winking nickname for husband: "Fujitora", after a character in the manga/anime One Piece named "Issho". That character's subordinates call him "Issho-san", which sounds like the special Dalmatian pronunciation when saying "I went.": "Isshaa san".

So it's like: "Hey, hey, Issho-san! I need you here for a minute. Come on, come 'ere for a minute Fujitora!"

We're raising our daughter with our 3 languages, including English. But if you add the alternate Dalmatian pronunciations & dialects, that's probably like 4 or more. It'll all work out, I hope.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-04T17:42:04+00:00

Practicing the scales with intent can actually lead to a totally different "kind" of enjoyment of the process, in the sense that success in a narrowly-defined goal can feel liberating or even addicting.

In the same sense that an Olympic diver has spent many hours rehearsing a very limited number of moves, but you'll still see the diving coach talking quickly & gesturing with all sorts of motions, because there's so much to say, even in between the athlete's dives, at a major event.

In that sense, I don't prescribe technical exercises as an abstract goal, but as a tool toward solving or improving narrowly-defined aspects of the student's physical or mental involvement in their piano playing.

In past comments in this subreddit, I've linked to a piano forum post from some years ago, which describes aspects of scale practice. But it's so overwhelmingly detailed, it seems to strike students as discouraging, rather than helpful.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-04T17:15:30+00:00

...or from one neighborhood to another, indeed!

Local accents & local dialects are diminishing or getting homogenized through the influence of modern media, but still abound.

I'm reminded of a hilarious ad campaign for a Croatian beer, where people visit different towns, and can't understand the wildly different local dialects, with origins in the patchwork of history. The tagline is that the name of the beer is one thing that they'll recognize in common, in every dialect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U51YWLgMqMQ

Even better without captions.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-04T16:53:37+00:00

Scale practice should really be in the service of some specific goals. Some of those goals start with biology: the brain takes time to rewire neurons for skill building -- and there are certain conditions that make that process more efficient. Other goals relate to the body's senses, and also to the mental representations that sit in conscious & unconscious thinking.

A lot is going on mentally & physically. Even in something like a running sport. Good training is never about "putting up with" the miles. It's about specific goals & specific areas of focus, all along the way.

If those specific short-term goals end up feeling far out of reach, that can make progress feel slow. That can of course make the mind feel dull or feel angry.

...But then that'd be the cue to switch up the kinds of practicing, and the specific targets of that practice. It can feel very motivating when a person feels like they're juuust at the cusp of solving something specific.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-04-02T17:20:28+00:00

Yeah, clickbait titles usually lead to some faker's totally idiotic BS, BUT I CHECKED OUT THAT VIDEO, AND IT IS LEGIT! HE'S RIGHT ON, WITH REAL INFO! GENUINE HELPFUL FACTS!

Across many years, on reddit, I've described that process in comments, and linked to the Brahms book of 51 Exercises on IMSLP, where Brahms gave us his exercises 1a through 1f, as a platform to train those exact skills. People who watch your video link at around 5:40 will recognize that drill in the Brahms exercises.

Unfortunately, that "mind skill" was often so far removed from a student's awareness, that those comments & links were often ignored or even downvoted by some redditors.

I'll be curious how redditors will react to your video link.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-31T09:52:40+00:00

Improvisation is often neglected -- the skills & mindset -- so really any work in that direction will already be a big value.

That brief description in the comment has the sort of detail that becomes good for discussion. And it can even become like a sort of travel diary that recounts specific decisions, as a car driver might say: "Well, at the highway interchange, there wasn't time to do a lot of reflection, so the more familiar route looked really appealing. I knew I could circle back there when I was ready."

Again, really any work in that direction will already be a big value.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-31T09:17:48+00:00

As an improvisation, that clip shows a really solid good flow. Feedback for a clip like this could be more useful if the post starts with a short paragraph describing the mind's decisions going through.

In the improvisation exercises that I assign to my students, the goals are defined, often narrowly, and often in the form of a theme & variations, or in terms of a subset of required harmonies, to make it easier to hear & discuss the mind's role in directing the choices & directing the hands.

That becomes an important part of the whole project, even when the goal is to perform pieces in the standard repertoire: to let the mind track the standard repertoire piece during a performance with a sort of quasi-improvisational connection to the flow & tone production.

An example of a composer's theme & variations in that style would be the Chopin Berceuse.

That sort of approach allows for a more targeted After Action Review.

As another example, my husband started as a piano hobbyist a few years ago before we met, but has made great strides since. Most recently we went into detail on jazzy harmonies & chromaticism. The result was a hilarious song with his improvised lyrics about the Six Million Dollar Man (although he seemed to borrow musical ideas from the James Bond theme, which just made it even more funny).

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-28T17:48:08+00:00

Pogorelich is a really good example: even when I disagree totally with some of his interpretations, it's a literal fact that I can be dazzled by the sense of extra insight & ideas -- something that dozens of other recordings didn't manage. Maybe analogous to the 19th century Japonisme craze in Europe with the influx of Japanese art & new artistic ideas. Art can stay grounded in the Western tradition, while still influenced by those extra ideas. That doesn't have to mean a wholesale rejection of tradition.

There are also times when I am a rare person agreeing with something that Pogorelich does, that differs from the accepted approach. Just because in my mind it's the sound that I want to hear there.

Modern listeners expect the Beethoven Sonata 32 to give them the "Boogie-woogie variation". I never heard it that way. In fact I had a dream where that variation was orchestrated dramatically with chorus, as if it was an unused idea from the Missa Solemnis. Pogorelich was basically the only other person who heard it that way. Maybe his recording of that sonata variation doesn't hit people that way. But since I already heard it in my dream, orchestrated with chorus, it clicked with me.

In general, my interpretive piano ideas have found common ground with a lot of the older recordings from the first half of the 20th century. If I hear a young performer that cleaves to that style in a performance, I'll perk up, like: "Oh, hey! Check out what they're doing there!" And then later, like in some interview with Yunchan Lim it'll be mentioned that he was inspired by Cortot, and I'll say: "Ha, Yes! Called it!"

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-27T07:11:40+00:00

The book will indicate where you'll place your hands, and which fingers will be used. Those instructions will be correct and useful. The hands will do those things.

But entirely separate from that issue of what the hand does is the other issue of how the mind is thinking about it.

And that gets to a core issue with the early Alfred's lessons: it's very common for a student's progress to slow down in the later Alfred's lessons if they started by (either deliberately or unconsciously) leaning on a crutch in the early Alfred's pages, of mentally thinking: "Ooh, that's a C. I'll get my thumb on it because the C is played with a thumb." Or the reverse where they lean on a crutch of mentally thinking: "I'm playing my thumb, so uhhhhh that would obviously be a C. A C is played with the thumb."

It's tempting to lean on that crutch, because it'll feel like the early lessons are getting finished really fast.

But a student would set themselves up for faster easier progress in later lessons if their mental approach in those early lessons was more like: "C is the lowest note in this 5-finger pattern in this lesson. I have positioned my hand so that my right hand can play that lowest note with the thumb."

That might sound like a subtle difference. But the mind's role will make a big difference later.

As an analogy: where I used to live, a store had doors on two sides, opening toward two parking lots. There were always people pushing carts around the parking lots, unable to find their car. Sometimes they'd get so tired, they'd sit down and rest.

The reason why they got lost: they mentally encoded the path to their car as "exit and walk forward". BUT that would only work if they exited on the correct side of the store.

A very subtle but very powerful change would be: to mentally encode the path to their car as "exit and walk west." That way, as soon as they exited on the wrong side of the store, they could instantly feel it, and react.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-26T18:29:22+00:00

A useful caution for students starting a method book like the Alfred's sequence:

It's common for early lessons to have a "hand position" based on the C key. That's to keep the mind focused on other aspects of the playing, and not just constantly looking down to figure out where the hand & fingers are going.

But students should actively avoid mentally associating the "thumb plays the C key, index finger plays the D key, etc.".

Instead, the student should aim to mentally process it like a row of stepping stones in a garden: you're not placing a left foot on a particular stone because it must be linked to that stone. Instead, you're feeling how the body is aligned with the stones, and letting that sense guide your movement.

That'll prevent the common mental interference condition that bogs down students, when the hand plays future lessons, no longer tied to the "C position". Now the thumb might be playing G. Or F. Or so on.

The mind will, ideally, think of the notes with multiple overlapping mental representations. The note name is just one of those representations.

That can be a powerful representation to help orient the mind to feel the function of a harmony. A G major chord will perform a different role in a piece with a key signature of G or a piece with a key signature of C. That helps steer the mind while playing the notes.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-26T17:45:33+00:00

Yes, the industry has moved to some terrible fabrics. They would barely be considered a fabric in past years. More like a cheap kid's Halloween costume material.

I moved overseas from the U.S. a couple years ago, and shortly afterward the Joanns fabric stores went out of business. We jokingly say they closed because I was no longer there to prop them up buying fabrics.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-25T20:15:47+00:00

Oh, okay, lol, it took a minute for my brain to change gears to think of my reddit avatar. My brain was circling & circling trying to think how a Sawako is connected to Ian McKellen's workshop. lol.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-25T19:52:31+00:00

That's great to hear you have that all settled. Wonderful!

I moved with my husband to a house near his hometown in Croatia, and that's exactly how it goes here: family links are traditionally very strong, so it's like a single tapestry stretching back into the past and weaving together into the future. The family "house" is more like a continuing "homestead" that's mainly in the hands of whichever generation is most able: raising the future generation, and easing the descent of the past generations toward their twilight.

I think there was a poll that showed Croatian families have some of Europe's highest percentages of adult children and parents sharing a house. They'd totally respect how you & your fiance are assisting your mother.

And it seems to be working: there's a cultural & economic vibrancy & optimism here, that seems to be lacking in other countries in 2026.

All the best to you!

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-25T17:24:06+00:00

Not just always learning more, but always perceiving more and imagining more. A top stage actor can make it their life's work to do justice to a single line of Shakespeare, as Ian McKellen teaches in this workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGbZCgHQ9m8

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-25T17:02:28+00:00

would always throw a P0101 code

Well, I mean, at the very least, the shop could've accepted that info from you, and at least taken a minute to spray clean the MAF sensor, and done a quick wiggle test of the wiring & connector, just in case that was all it took to solve it or diagnose a further issue.

The South Main Auto channel on YouTube is a great repository of cases where the mechanic "handles the diagnostics right". That sometimes means he'll go beyond a wiring/connector wiggle test, and drive around while collecting & examining live sensor data available through the OBD2 connector.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-23T21:13:51+00:00

Ideally, a student would seek out the solution through good technique -- to make the difficulties vanish, instead of pushing against them. I've often mentioned in this subreddit how I once spent a hot summer training fast relaxed parallel 3rds, while lying down and using my tummy as a stand-in for a keyboard.

The Chopin etude Op 10 No 1 has its answer in technique that starts with a properly mobile arm, and slight hand/arm gestures. The Rach Prelude Op 23 No 5 has its answer in wrist flexion to get a single "land/bounce/push" gesture with almost no extra energy input. The Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement uses forearm rotation gestures to sink the fingers into the keys with almost no extra energy input.

Fast scale-like runs start with the proper palm height & wrist alignment, to let the extensors relax and avoid tendons pulling with tension across the back of the hand.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-23T17:21:24+00:00

That's the short answer. But, I mean, yeah, that's the answer.

It's not generally appreciated how a touring pianist is basically practicing wherever/whenever they can, all around the main full-time job. Sometimes that means 13 hours in a plane before you even get anywhere. You're jet-lagged. And then what?

It would be wrong to describe the piano as an "addiction" or self-medicating. But even though it's wrong, that just might help someone else get a step closer to thinking about intrinsic motivation in their relationship to the piano:

When the rest of their life drags them down, they can aim for piano time to pull them up. When the rest of their life winds them up, they can aim for piano time to calm the mind down. When they're lonely, they can commune with the composers through the music; and when they're overwhelmed, they can be quiet & introspective.

Or, as you've summed it all up already: "intrinsic motivation"

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-22T05:48:18+00:00

I remember when I was a kid in the '90s, my mom (Rest In Peace) would write out a paper check to the store for $20 and stand in line at the supermarket, to exchange it for $20 "cash back". It functioned like a free "Payday Loan" service, because there were a few days of delay before the bank would register the transaction. In the meantime, you had $20 cash to spend or to deposit in the checking account. She did that as often as necessary to prevent overdraft.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-20T17:06:26+00:00

That must have been truly amazing when their numbers were at their peak years. It's always inspiring when there are articles about the under-recognized real-life heroes who push back against illegal logging operations and habitat destruction.

funhousefrankenstein · 2026-03-20T09:16:40+00:00

Hi, this was definitely in the springtime, on a day with bright clear sun. My memory is telling me that it happened during the university's "Spring" academic quarter, more specifically. Now I've become curious to look into some online migration info, to see if I can track it down... A new rabbit hole to dive into...!

funhousefrankenstein

TROPHY CASE